Refiner Tupras (TUPRS), Turkey’s largest company by turnover, swung to a net loss of TRY185mn in Q2 from a net profit of TRY870mn a year ago, according to a stock exchange filing.
The loss in the quarter was mainly the result of the sharp drop in Brent crude oil prices and capacity reductions amid lower demand brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to Seker Invest.
Revenues fell 61% y/y to TRY9.3bn.
Tupras’ production declined 29% y/y to 4.91mn tonnes, suggesting a 70% capacity utilisation rate (CUR), while sales fell 26% y/y to 5.3mn tonnes. In H1, production and sales fell 20% to 10.9mn tonnes and 11.5mn tonnes, respectively.
From
In April, the company lowered its production expectation for 2020 from 28mn tonnes (tpy) to 24mn tpy and slashed its sales estimate from 29mn tpy to 25mn tpy due to squeezed demand.
Starting from June, after
On
The increase was below the 7.5% reported in July and the 8.2% reported in June, but it was still a stark contrast to the fall of 27.7% in May, when travel restrictions imposed to combat the spread of the coronavirus were still in place.
Gasoline demand over the first eight days of August totalled 100mn litres, up 32.45% y/y, a sharper rise than the 24.5% reported in July and in contrast to the declines of 2.1% in June and 32.4% in May.
Sales of both diesel and gasoline were affected by the Eid holiday which ran officially from
In Q1, Tupras reported a net loss of TRY2.27bn (€324mn) for the first quarter versus a loss of TRY375mn in the same period a year ago.
In April, Fitch Ratings advised that Tupras has a policy of distributing large dividends, “but in light of the weaker results we do not expect the company to pay dividends in 2020 and 2021”.
In February, Tupras opted not to distribute a dividend from its TRY526mn of 2019 profit, which was down 86% y/y, since it closed the fiscal year with a TRY1.14bn loss in terms of the Tax Procedural Law records.
In
Fitch Ratings also revised its outlook on Tupras to negative from stable, while affirming the company at 'BB-', three notches below investment grade, in line with Turkey’s sovereign rating and parent
Moody’s Investors Service sees Tupras at B1/Negative, four notches below investment grade, in line with sovereign and parent ratings.
Tupras’ FX deficit jumped to
However, Tupras’ deficit compared lower than the
Turkey’s flag carrier
The flag carrier is becoming an additional trouble for
Low-cost carrier
Tupras’ parent
Koc Holding’s carmakers Tofas and Ford Otosan had weighty FX deficits of
On
In
Earlier this year, BlackRock and Lazard Asset Management informed the public disclosure platform (KAP) that their stakes in Tupras had fallen below the 5% threshold, a level which imposes an obligation on shareholders in Borsa Istanbul-listed companies to inform the public when their stakes move up or down.
Foreign investors’ stakes in the Tupras free-float fell to 39% as of
Tupras had a TRY20bn market cap as of
The Q2 financials season, which started on
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